The latest mergers, acquisitions and other corporate actions in the wealth management sector.

IQ-EQ
IQ-EQ, an Astorg portfolio company and global investor services group, has completed its acquisition of Zenith Global, a specialist provider of solutions for securitisation and structured finance transactions in Italy.

The acquisition, now authorised by the Bank of Italy and the Italian government’s foreign direct investment (FDI) review board, has given IQ-EQ its first presence in Italy. At the same time, it has bolstered IQ-EQ’s global capital markets and structured finance service proposition.

With more than 200 employees across its offices in Milan and Rome, Zenith is a major player in the Italian market for innovative, sophisticated structures catering to international investors. It delivers a suite of securitisation services, including SPV and corporate servicing, portfolio servicing (master servicer, primary and special servicer, back-up servicer, calculation agent), regulatory services, and structuring. The team, which has expertise in real estate securitisation, offers proprietary technology built specifically to support the securitisation and master servicing market.

IQ-EQ now has more than 6,500 employees across 25 jurisdictions. The acquisition comes hot on the heels of the group’s recent rebrand of its AMAL business to IQ-EQ in Australia and New Zealand – expanding the goup’s global presence in the service provider in the securitisation space.

“Completing our acquisition of Zenith Global is a major milestone for IQ-EQ and for our EMEA business,” John Legrand, IQ-EQ’s deputy group CEO and regional CEO for EMEA, said. “It gives us a strong foothold in Italy – an increasingly important market that’s seeing a notable uplift in investment activity – and fills a strategic gap in our continental European footprint as more of our clients are asking for Italian capabilities.”